Striving4Zen

Dr. Alejandro Junger: There is another “inconvenient truth” still hidden from popular awareness. Global warming is just a symptom. At the root of it is global toxicity, the build-up of chemicals that is threatening all life on earth.

The air we breathe, the water we drink and shower with, the buildings we live and work in, and most of all, the foods we eat, are loaded with chemicals that alone or in combination cause irritation, inflammation, sickness and, ultimately, death.

Preservatives, conservatives, additives for color, smell, taste and texture, pesticides, insecticides, fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, hormones, antibiotics, wax, chlorine, mercury, lead, arsenic, fluoride, polyhydrocarbons, DDT, PCB’s, phthalates, PBA, saturated fats, trans fats, MSG, detergent and thousands of new chemicals are released every year, with thousands more awaiting FDA approval.

The human body comes equipped with a highly effective detox system, a team of organs working together to eliminate the toxic waste of normal metabolism, such as uric acid, lactic acid, carbon dioxide, ammonia and homocysteine. Somehow it can even detoxify most of the modern chemicals. The problem is that when the detox organs get overwhelmed, toxins continue circulating and cause inflammation. As a defense, the body generates mucus to coat toxins and trap them in the tissues where they remain when digestion is kept working day in, day out. If they persist over time, toxin and mucus accumulation can cause increased acidity, malfunction and eventually the collapse of all systems, one by one.

Global toxicity is enough to overflow the body’s detox capacity. Modern habits worsen the problem by keeping the detox process slow. All the different organs of the body need energy to function. Energy distribution has to be prioritized when many systems are being used at the same time or there won’t be enough. The body still gives priority to digestion over detox. For centuries, food was hard to come by. Only recently in evolution do we have food available and eat it 24/7, but our genes still act as if each feeding is the last meal and slow down everything else to concentrate on food. With digestion a full-time job, detox has to wait its turn while toxins keep coming in.

Modern medicine is detox-blind. Even though this information could save your life, there are no medical specialists dedicated to detect and treat the effects of global toxicity.

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Labels: detox, detoxification, digestion, healthy diet, toxic metals, toxins

In his revolutionary new book, The UltraMind Solution, Dr. Mark Hyman offers not just an explanation validated by hundreds of recent peer-reviewed medical studies, but a solution for this invisible epidemic that now affects 1.1 billion people worldwide and will cripple one in four among us during our lifetime.

So, what's causing our "broken brains"?

Essentially two things - our modern diet and environment - both of which are loaded with brain-toxic compounds, including:

• Brain-toxic foods, such as high-fructose corn syrup and trans/hydrogenated fats
• Excessive consumption of sugar, caffeine, alcohol and nicotine
• Additives and toxins in our foods (more than 3,500 can be added to food; more than 3,000 are in our homes)
• Toxic chemicals (more than 80,000 have been introduced since 1990; 500 have been tested for safety)
• Heavy metals, including lead, mercury, cadmium
• Over-the-counter and prescription medications, which interfere with the body's use or production of several compounds essential for brain health (e.g., coenzyme Q10, B vitamins, glutathione)
• Mycotoxins, which, according to a number of very current studies, cause severe symptoms of brain damage in 70%, and autonomic nervous system abnormalities in 100% of patients living with them.
• Sleep deprivation
• Sedentary lifestyle, which lowers brain repair mechanisms (e.g., IGF-1 and brain-derived neurotropic factor)
• Chronic stress, which chronically elevates the "stress hormone," cortisol

What's the UltraMind Solution? Heal the Body, Heal the Brain

First, as the discussion of current research in Part I makes clear: the brain is not disconnected from the rest of the body. Dr. Hyman sums it up saying: "the barrier between the body and the brain is no iron curtain. It is more like cheesecloth."

What this means is that brain disorders are not only in the brain. Their root cause(s), and therefore their cure, is to be found in finding and treating imbalances in the rest of the body-in the body's seven key systems. Restoring balance to these core systems restores health, both in the body and the brain.

Dr. Hyman marshals these seven key systems as the Seven Keys to UltraWellness.

They are:

• Optimize nutrition
• Balance your hormones
• Cool off inflammation
• Fix your digestion
• Enhance detoxification
• Boost energy metabolism
• Calm your mind

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Labels: caffeine, Dr. Mark Hyman, high fructose corn syrup, living holistically, stress, sugar, The UltraMind Solution, toxic metals, toxins, UltraWellness

On Friday, December 12, the Environmental Working Group made public internal government documents disclosing the Food and Drug Administration's secret plans to reverse federal warnings that pregnant women and children limit their fish intake to avoid mercury, a neurotoxin especially dangerous to the fetus and infants. EWG obtained both the FDA plan, stamped "CLOSE HOLD," and memos by senior Environmental Protection Agency scientists attacking FDA's rationale. The Washington Post broke the story, and other national stories followed.

Reaction from Capitol Hill was swift and sharp. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT., denounced the FDA: "Now, in the administration's 11th hour, they are quietly trying to water down advisories for women and children about the dangers of mercury in fish, disregarding sound science on this issue. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin capable of impairing childhood development at very low levels."

Read the Washington Post story here.

Labels: EPA, EWG, FDA, fish, mercury, toxic, toxic metals, toxins, tuna

It may seem like a fight you’re destined to lose, however I firmly believe you can reduce your exposure to heavy metals quite dramatically, thereby giving your body a fighting chance to eliminate accumulated toxins and restore health.

These guidelines can help limit your exposure:

• Use glass, cast iron, carbon steel, titanium, and enamel cookware. Both aluminum and Teflon are well known for their toxic dangers, and stainless steel can expose you to carcinogenic nickel.

• Minimize consumption of restaurant food as restaurants are required to use stainless steel pots and vats.

• Avoid stainless steel thermoses; the glass lined kinds are best.
  
  
• Avoid cosmetics with aluminum bases, mineral powders that contain bismuth, and aluminum-laden antiperspirants, which have been shown to increase your Alzheimer’s risk by as much as 300 percent!

• Avoid vaccinations that inject mercury or aluminum directly into your bloodstream.

• Avoid and remove dental amalgam fillings.
  
  
• Avoid stainless steel orthodontics such as braces and palate wideners.
  
  
• Avoid costume jewelry if you are sensitive to metals.
  
  
• Avoid smoking and second hand smoke as it causes cadmium poisoning.
  
  
• Make sure you purchase your natural herbal remedies from a reputable source with strict quality testing. Some colloidal silvers can lead to silver poisoning, and some folk remedies can be high in mercury, lead and arsenic, either due to alleged medicinal properties or through unintentional contamination.
  
  
• Avoid conventional household cleaning products.
  
  
• Avoid conventional insecticides and herbicides. Also be VERY cautious when using the “natural alternative” Borax (boric acid), which can also cause serious health problems, including death.

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Labels: cleanse, Mercola, mercury, toxic, toxic metals, toxins